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Former Marine Meets with Pace 38 Years After First Meeting

September 27, 2007 By admin

By Samantha L. Quigley
American Forces Press Service

WORCESTER, Mass., Oct. 17, 2006 – Paul Brunell of Oxford, Mass., was a Marine lance corporal when he served under then-Marine 2nd Lt. Peter Pace during the Vietnam War.

“I met him in a firefight,” Brunell said. “He just ended up being the next officer to come down the line.”

Pace took command of 2nd Platoon, Golf Company, 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines, in February 1968, near the beginning of the Tet Offensive. North Vietnamese military and the Viet Cong had taken advantage of Tet, the Chinese new year, to launch a series of attacks across South Vietnam.

When Brunell learned that now-General Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, would be in Worcester for a tribute to servicemembers and their families, he wondered if it would be possible to speak with him.

“He was the last officer that I served under that I haven’t met yet,” he said. “I knew he was coming here today (and) I wrote him a letter to see if I could get a chance to meet him. Say “Hi’ to the guy, you know?”

Brunell remembers Pace as a bright young officer in Vietnam.

“He was a good man. He was a good officer. All my officers were good officers, (but) he didn’t come in as a know-it-all,” Brunell said. “He was willing to learn from the guys that had been there. Even though he had the education, he was a regular guy.”

The former lance corporal added that the chairman “doesn’t look like he’s changed a bit.”

Separated from the Corps in December 1968 after being severely wounded, Brunell spends time working with veterans organizations like the American Legion. He also said he likes to support functions like last weekend’s tribute that honored servicemembers and their families in Worcester.

“Back in my day, there wasn’t too much respect for veterans,” he said. “They’re finally being shown some appreciation.”

But that has little to do with why the former lance corporal who survived the Tet Offensive, some of the bloodiest fighting of the Vietnam War, would even consider jumping into the fray one more time.

“I’d go back right now,” he said, “because I’m a Marine first, and an American second.”

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Filed Under: Top News, Updates

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. linda onzahwah says

    April 30, 2008 at 7:12 pm

    I have one comment…..Who can i sue? December 2004 my husband was deployed in Iraq, during that month my mother (whom I stayed w/while he was gone) died and I was 7 months pregnant with our 1st child. I was beside my self with grief. I notified Red Cross on Monday (when we were told that she had 24-48 hrs to live), and the notified my Marine within hours. She died Tuseday night at 11pm and we planned her funeral for that Saturday. We were told by his command that he will be sent home since I was in a ‘fragile’ condition. He called back on Wednesday and told me that they didn’t think they could send him home in time. They promised me then they broke that. ‘They’ is his command. I even had to deliver our 1st born by myself. I am now suffering from post tramatic stress and it affects me everyday of my life. I looked into my ‘Spousal Support Handbook’ and it said that they were indeed in fact suppose to send him home if that happened. Why didn’t they?

  2. Debi Ketner says

    May 8, 2008 at 6:08 pm

    Linda, I’m so sorry this happened to you. The military in general can be awfully hard to understand at times. Many of us have tragically lost parents or given birth to babies without our service members being able to be there for us – even during times when we weren’t at war with other countries. I know that doesn’t make what you’ve been through any easier to cope with, but the fact that you aren’t alone during such a traumatic time might help a little.

    It also might help to focus on how hard all of this is for your husband, wanting to be there for you and not being able to as both of you had expected. He must be going through a lot emotionally over all of this and probably needs a tremendous amount of support and encouragement from you.

    One thing you might do, speaking as someone who has known more than my share of hardship while married to the military over the years, try to remember that being able to overcome adversity brings nothing but strength. Wives who can rise above such hardships literally become pillars of strength – not only for themselves but for other wives who find themselves walking in our footsteps.

    You’ll be blessed because of that hard-won strength…I guarantee it!

    Please take care,
    Debi

  3. linda onzahwah says

    May 23, 2008 at 11:06 pm

    Thanks for the rely but honestly I have the original letters and handbook telling me he will if fact for sure be able to come home. She died on a Tuesday and was buried on a Saturday—-they told him at last minute that they couldn’t get him here in time. I accept that but why did they call me to tell me that he was coming home? Thats my beef. I married a Marine and I support him 200 percent and I know that being a spouse is hard. I still know that with 2 kids and never seeing my husband now. My problem is that they should have nevered promised me. I was in a fragile state. I was 6 months pregnant and just watched my mother die in front of me and still had time to console my husband. I know I have strength, I know I’m strong but the men and women that come back from Iraq w/post tramatic stress or what not—-everyone helps out and ‘understands’….what about the spouse and children that went thru their own wars back at home? Who is there to help them?

  4. Disgruntled Airman says

    September 22, 2010 at 1:54 am

    According to the Emergency leave governing AFIs in the Air Force, Emergency leave is also granted for a major surgery of immediate family member or spouses immediate family member. My husband and I are both currently deployed and his father will be undergoing a heart transplant surgery for a mechanical heart due to almost total failure of his own heart. According to the Air Force, this is not an emergency situation!!! What! I think it is just about the most major surgery there is, what could be more major than a heart transplant? It is just another way the military lies to their people… Then to make it worse my husband and I had to sit through a briefing today of how the air force cares… that is bull.

  5. sarah says

    October 17, 2010 at 12:12 pm

    I have a question. this says that if the member’s mother, father, etc pass, they can take leave.
    my father’s grandmother died this morning, and the two of them were very close. could he take emergency leave to attend her funeral? he is currently deployed in Afghansistan, so I know it will be difficult to do, but is it possible?

  6. private ....._ says

    October 25, 2010 at 8:03 pm

    Sgt’s don’t communicate. I’m in the army stationed in Virginia and my sgt told me tonight that I wont be able to go on leave tell this weekend but the funeral is Thursday. The red cross called even I wont be in a class for two more weeks, all I do is clean eat an sleep. If you want to be there for your families funeral don’t join the army because you won’t make it home tell after the funeral is done.

  7. eric says

    December 8, 2010 at 6:02 am

    ok look. your husband was deployed….WAR! stuff happens, its life. war doesnt stop because one person dies, or a child is born. i know that these events are important to everyone, but im sure there are alot of ppl that are depending on your husband. get use to things like this happening. he signed the dotted line just as i did. if its too much for you guys to handle then he needs to get out. otherwise you both will be miserable. i know what im saying is harsh, but im not going to butter it up and lie. sorry for your loss, and congrats on having a child. god bless

  8. Gayle says

    December 10, 2010 at 9:37 pm

    I can completely understand her turmoil. The military completely destroyed our daughter, son-in-law and thier children. To date as I sit here her husband is still officially full time enlisted yet no one will sign off on his discharge date, they have pulled any benefits he was getting, and they are treating him like crap PLUS thier insurance was cancelled by someone in Oct. You see our daughter is missing a gene and almost died a year ago. Because of this “little inconvience” as the IDIOTS call it, they are playing Russian roulette with her life. Not that I would expect them to care, they have done nothing but lied from the day our son-in-law spoke to the recruiter. I would never suggest anyone go into the military because they will destroy your life then walk away from you and go stomp the next person into hell. The effects the military has on a family is not worth it. I have watched a great 7 years marriage go up in smoke in the last 4 years, they have been together for 12 years total, their children hate their dad because he never gets to follow through with anything he promises because they change his work schedule faster than the ink can dry on the paper. About 30 mins ago my daughter called and told me she could not do this anymore, the mililtary has suck the life out of her husband and is just tired of the daily games and lies, 12 years down the drain, 2 more kids that will have divorced parents. Fact is fact the military takes and takes and takes and gives nothing to the soilders in return.

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